Pliers.



W FRANCIS.

PLIERS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 22, 1916.

Patented Jan. 30, 1917.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 341, 191%.

Application filed August 22, 1916. Serial No. 116,563.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM FnAnors, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of W'ashington, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Pliers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in friction locks for pliers and the object of this improvement is to provide a cheap and simple locking device that may be applied to pliers of the usual type in such manner that it may be easily and conveniently operated to frictionally lock the pliers in engagement with objects as wires upon which the pliers are being used.

A further object is to design the locking device so that it may be applied to pliers of the type commonly used in handling wire without making any costly alterations in the form of construction of the pliers and there by increasing the manufacturing cost.

The invention consists in the novel construction of a friction lock and in the adaptation and combination of such friction lock with pliers of a well known type as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a pair of pliers to which my friction lock is applied; Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the same; Fig. 8 is a view in perspective of one element of the pliers illustrating an inclined lug that is formed thereon; Fig. 4: is a view in perspective of a locking lever and Fig. 5 is a view in cross-section on broken line 5, 5 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings throughout which like reference numerals indicate like parts, the numerals 6 and 7 respectively indicate the two halves of a pair of pliers of the well known form of construction commonly used by wiremen, such halves usually being provided with wire cutters 8 and wire gripping jaws 9, and being recessed as at 10' to form a mortise bearing joint through which extends a pivot 11. When pliers of this type are used for twisting wires together, the pliers will slip off the wires unless a constant grip is maintained on the handles and since the operator is obliged to repeatedly change the position of his hands on the handles during the process of twisting, it is diiiicult and tiresome to maintain a sufficient grip thereon to hold the wires at all times, and such wires are frequently dropped, thus occasioning considerable loss of time. My invent-ion overcomes this difficulty by providing a friction lock for the pliers so that the grip of the pliers on the wire will be maintained with sufiicient force to hold the wire when the grip of the hand is released. This lock is made by forming an angular lug 12 on the outside surface of one portion 6 of the pliers just to the rear of the pivot hole 13 and providing a lever arm 14: which is secured on the pivotal rivet 11 and is provided with an inclined lower surface 15 that engages with the inclined top surface of the lug 12 when the lever arm 1% is moved from the position shown in full lines toward the position shown in broken lines in Fig. 1, thus pressing the two halves of the pliers together and forming a friction lock that is strong enough to hold the plier jaws in engagement with wires while the position of the hand on the plier handles is being shifted.

The lever arm 141 extends rearward of the plier handles to a point where it is easily reached by the fingers of the user and is provided with an inturned end 16 that pro jects between the plier handles to prevent the lever arm from being turned out of its correct position.

When the lever arm 14 is in the position shown by full lines in Fig. 1, the inclined lug 12 and the opposing inclined surface 15 of the arm 14 will be in the relative positions shown in Fig. 5 and no locking effect will be produced thereby, the pliers being freely movable on the pivot 11, but when the lever arm is moved toward the position indicated by broken lines in Fig. 1, then the inclined surface 15 will engage the inclined lug 12, thus causing tension on the rivet 11 and consequent frictional contact between the two halves 6 and 7 of the pliers, the frictional contact varying directly with the amount of clockwise pressure exerted on the lever arm 14 as viewed in Fig. 1.

It has been found by experiment that a slight pressure exerted on the end of the lever arm 14 will produce sufficient locking effect to cause the pliers to hold their own weight when they are engaged with a wire.

When the locking arm 14 is in the inoperative position shown by full lines in Fig. 1, and the pliers'are in use, such locking arm will move with the handle 6 and will not affeet the operation of the pliers in anv way until it has been moved over toward the position shown by broken lines to cause engagement between the inclined surfaces 12 and 15.

If desired, the device herein disclosed can be applied to an old pair of pliers by making the lug 12 in the form of a screw or rivet which may be inserted in the side of the pliers by drilling and tapping the plier adjacent the pivot hole 13.

In manufacturing this device the lever arm 14 is preferably formed of sheet metal stamped to provide the necessary inclined surface 15.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a pair of pliers having a pivot, of a cam on said pliers and a lever arm on said pivot, said lever arm having an inclined surface opposed to and engageable with said cam.

2. A device of the class described comprising two plier elements secured together by a pivot, of an inclined cam on one of said plier elements, and a lever arm mounted on said pivot and disposed to extend lengthwise thereof, said lever arm having an inclined surface adapted to be moved into engagement with said cam to cause frictional engagement between the two halves of said liers. p 3. The combination with a pair of pliers having a pivot, of a cam on one side of said pliers adjacent said pivot, a lever arm mounted on said pivot and having an inclined surface adapted to be moved into engagement with said cam to cause frictional engagement within the pivotal bearing of said pliers, said lever extending lengthwise of the handle elements of said pliers, and a downturned end on said lever arm adapted to project between the handles of said pliers.

Signed by me at Seattle, Washington, this 27th day of July, 1916.

WILLIAM FRANCIS.

Witnesses F. C. MATHENY, R. J. COOK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

